Public Health Experiences

Welcome to Lentz University of the Metro Nashville Public Health Department (MPHD). Thank you for your interest in a public health experience with MPHD.

The public health experience at the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) is designed to provide meaningful, real world public health experiences for both undergraduate and graduate level students. We seek to provide opportunities for students in a variety of health related disciplines including Public Health, Environmental Health, Nursing, Medicine and Business. We also offer volunteer experiences for people wishing to assist with special projects within our health department. Interns are students from accredited educational institutions who need public health experiences to fulfill specific curriculum requirements for graduation.

Our ultimate goals for all internship experiences are for student interns to have an opportunity to expand on their interests and academic training and receive additional hands-on preparation from MPHD professionals. Student interns have the opportunity to work side-by-side with public health personnel and have the opportunity to provide meaningful input into new and ongoing MPHD projects. This hands-on approach allows interns to become more experienced with methods, processes and practices used by public health organizations.

Types Public Health Experiences:

Shadow Op: Students seeking exposure to public health can participate in a Shadow Op where they spend one day working with an experienced public health professional to develop insight into the responsibilities and scope of practice involved in working for a large public health department. These Shadow Ops are restricted to 8 hours or less.

Immersion Experience: Our Immersion Experiences are designed to provide a more comprehensive exploration of public health practice, competencies, processes and policy issues. Immersion Experiences are defined as greater than 8 hours.

Volunteers: Volunteers are individuals who receive no pay from MPHD for their time working at our health department. Usually these persons are not pursuing a specific curriculum requirement for a degree but typically volunteer to gain additional experience or for reasons of personal satisfaction. An example of a volunteer experience would be working at our Animal Control facility. (Individuals who receive no pay from MPHD, but do receive a stipend from their university or from another third party entity, are still considered volunteers for MPHD purposes.)